


A Kind of Fairytale: Happily

by NoNamesFromCats



Series: A Kind of Fairytale [2]
Category: Once Upon a Time (TV)
Genre: Angst, Bisexual Emma Swan, Co-Parenting, Coming Out, F/F, First time with a woman, Frenemies, Friends to Lovers, Happy Ending, Internalized Homophobia, Lesbian Evil Queen | Regina Mills, Mutual Masturbation, Oral Sex, Smut
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-14
Updated: 2019-10-13
Packaged: 2020-12-14 21:04:29
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 7
Words: 9,780
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21022250
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/NoNamesFromCats/pseuds/NoNamesFromCats
Summary: Real World AU. After Regina helped Emma get treatment for her eating disorder, and Emma helped Henry see that is mom wasn't the Evil Queen from a fairytale, they've been getting along fairly well. But now Regina's feelings for Emma are becoming...somewhat more complicated and she doesn't know how to deal with it. And if anything were to happen, how would they tell their son? Regina POV.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> This is part of a series, but could be read as a stand alone work.
> 
> Mentions of eating disorder recovery.

Regina knew her decision to ask Emma to stay with them had been the right one when she told Henry and he threw his arms around her and didn't let go for a very long time. She very much enjoyed being the hero in his eyes. No wonder Emma had had such a hard time saying no to him last year.

And so Emma and her couple of boxes moved into the spare room which was done up in black and white with birch tree wall paper left over from the Mayor's office. Emma insisted on paying rent, and for one third of the groceries, now that she was Sheriff again and had an income. Regina accepted and cooked them all meals while Emma and Henry did the washing up.

It was awkward at first, having another adult in the house—especially one whose eating she was subtly keeping an eye on. She had to stop herself on more than one occasion from ordering Emma around, or demanding she clean up her room. She had not, at thirty-six, and a single mother, imagined herself living with a roommate.

Not that she was parenting alone anymore. It worked out more smoothly than she thought it would, when she realized, if she wanted to work late at the office, or decided on a night out, Emma was more than happy to stay home with Henry. And since Henry no longer had to sneak off or wait for meetings at the Diner, he was much less insistent on spending time alone with Emma.

“I'm starting to feel like an old toy.” Emma admitted to her one Saturday afternoon when Henry had declined her invitation to get ice cream in favour of a video game he played online with friends.

Regina swallowed the 'now you know how it feels' comment that sprang to mind and took a sip of her coffee. “Just be glad he's actually made some friends his own age. And before high school.”

“Right.” Emma shivered dramatically. “_That's_ coming.”

“Not such a good time in high school, Ms. Swan?” Her experience with public high school was limited, but she would have thought a pretty, blonde girl would have been all the rage.

“If by that you mean the three different schools in two years that I went to, then, no, it was not a good time.”

Regina raised an eyebrow. “Only two years?”

Emma shrugged. “Does that really surprise you? You know my history.”

“Well, as you are the town Sheriff, I'm surprised that never came up.”

“You mean you're surprised you didn't find out last year so you could use it against me?” Emma looked at her knowingly.

Regina sat back in her chair, smirking. “Perhaps.” Although for this last appointing, she'd been much more enthusiastic about presenting Emma with the job.

“So, what, are you going to impeach me?” Emma raised an eyebrow.

“I don't believe there's any rule that says you need a high school diploma to do your job.” It was highly possible that there was, but she didn't feel bothered to look into it. Things were fine as they were. “You've been doing a competent job. That's sufficient.”

“Competent, eh?” Emma gave her a look. It was a new look that Regina had been noticing. It said that she knew that Regina was trying to wind her up, and that she no longer minded.

It also threw Regina off, just a little bit. She straightened her shoulders and drank her coffee and didn't reply.


	2. Chapter 2

Regina wasn't entirely sure what to think. There had always been a sort of tension between her and Ms. Swan—between her and Emma—and in the past it had been a simmering rivalry, but now she was beginning to feel...something else.

It surprised her one day when Henry was leaving from school and caught them both together in a hug. Their arms were around him and she'd been pinned against Emma, and felt Emma's arm at her waist and something had happened. A flutter she couldn't remember the last time she'd felt. She'd ignored it and moved on, of course. But still.

It seemed ridiculous that she would be attracted to someone she'd felt such intense hatred for no more than a year ago.

Of course, Emma was attractive. She'd recognized that immediately, as one recognizes that the most striking plants are the ones that are poisonous. It might have added just a little more fuel the fire that the “real mother” Henry had declared when they'd met, was beautiful, and under any other circumstances might have had Regina thinking in a different direction. One that she hadn't quite fully reckoned with.

As a single mother and Mayor of a conservative small town, her sexual awakening, years ago, had been a quiet one. After a couple of dalliances with a few of the men in town and a somewhat complicated physical affair with the late Sheriff, she'd stuck to a nightly repertoire of fantasies which began to include, and then focus exclusively on, women. 

It hadn't exactly surprised her, but it was one more thing that the townspeople would have had to hold over her head, so she never acted on it. Though lucky for her, her imagination was quite good and thoughts of Ruby from Granny's Diner with her continuing supply of skimpy outfits took her as far as she'd needed to go. For a time.

But now the seed was planted. And it seemed her body, if not her mind, was ready for more. However, it didn't do a lot for her mood. She hated not being in control, especially of herself, especially when it put her someplace vulnerable. Especially when she had no idea if Emma was...so inclined. 

But she could find out. It took her a few moments to decide against a PI search. Old habits died hard, and asking her point blank just seemed...undignified. And the follow-up to that, the reason she was even asking in the first place made her feel like an angsty teenager. Did Emma like her that way?

Perhaps in her new state of lust, she had been imagining things. Maybe she had only thought she'd felt more heat than usual in Emma's parting glance when she left the house that morning. Or just thought she'd seen Emma bite her lip when their hands touched over a dish. Maybe turning around and noticing Emma's gaze dart away from her was all in her head.

And the idea of bringing up any of this out of the blue, especially if her judgement had been clouded by her...feelings, was twisting her stomach into knots.

Unfortunately, her inner dilemma was not going unnoticed. One morning in the kitchen, Emma made some offhanded remark about some of the fathers being eye candy while meeting Henry at school and Regina's frustration bubbled over.

She stomped upstairs and into her bedroom, shutting the door a little too hard. This was ridiculous. She was acting like someone who had never had a crush before. If this had been over a man she would have marched up to him, stuck out her chest, curled her lip and told him exactly what was going to happen if he followed her up the stairs to her bedroom. And if he agreed, fine, if he rejected her, then it only stung as long as it took her to empty her glass of wine.

But that was the point, wasn't it? She'd never done this before. Not with someone she'd actually, dare she say, cared about quite this much. She cared whether Emma felt the same way about her.

Ugh. She was getting on her own nerves. This had to end, right away.

She found Emma back in her own room, the door partially closed. Henry was downstairs eating breakfast—she heard him crashing dishes around.

She opened the door without knocking, her jaw already set.

“What is your problem?” Emma scowled at her from where she sat on the bed. “You've been kind of a bitch all week.”

Regina glared at her. “I hope you don't use that word around Henry.”

“I'm sure he's heard worse at school.”

“From the birdhouse brigade? I doubt it.” Mary Margaret's newest project was setting birdhouses all around town to make sure all of the birds had homes as they returned after the winter. As far as Regina was concerned, they were an eyesore.

“Is there something I can help you with?” Emma asked her sarcastically.

No, Regina decided, there was not. Whatever she had thought might be happening was definitely not happening because she couldn't deal with this kind of uncertainty anymore and she couldn't bring herself to actually admit it. 

It was ridiculous to think that she and Ms. Swan...Well. Even though it might have been the set-up to a romantic comedy had one of them been a dashing adoptive dad, or the easy-going bachelor returning his kid to an adopted mother's doorstep...those things were never believable.

But her life had never played out as a comedy, romantic or otherwise, especially now, while she glared down her nose at the birth mother of her adopted child, at the woman she was realizing she had feelings for. 

She turned on her heel and left the room, changing course to the laundry room. She still had time to throw in a load of delicates before she had to leave for work.

She was sifting through her hamper for dark slips when Emma appeared in the doorway.

“So is this what you do when you're pissed off? Wash your underwear?”

She raised an eyebrow. About ready to make a snide comment about Emma's own laundry habits—as far as Regina knew she washed everything together—but she decided it was better to remain silent.

“Was it something I did?” Emma asked. Her voice was a little bit softer. There was a hint of accusation in it, but also, something else. Something like resignation.

Regina began to zip her bras into their special washing pouches, trying to seem nonchalant. “No, Ms. Swan it's not. It's not you, it's me.”

Emma leaned against the doorway. “That sounds like a breakup. You think we'd be better as just friends?”

See, that was something that of late was firing off in all directions in her brain and she had no idea if Emma meant it completely innocently, or there was something behind it. She didn't want to think about it anymore.

She squinted into the top load machine. “I hardly know anything about you, Ms. Swan.”

“So ask.” Emma said, like it was obvious.

Regina paused with a handful of lace panties. “It's that easy, is it? Because you've always been so forthcoming?”

Emma shrugged. “You can give it a try, at least.”

“Fine, Ms. Swan.” If she wanted questions, Regina would give her questions. “Where is Henry's father right now?” She'd asked once before a long time ago and only gotten the 'he doesn't know he has a kid' response. Henry had said Emma had told him he was dead. She'd often wondered if it was true. 

“Whoa.” Emma straightened up. “You just jumped right in there.”

Regina smirked, folding her arms across her chest. Her point was proven.

But Emma didn't walk away. She shrugged and glanced down. “He's dead.”

“So you didn't lie to Henry.” At least there was that.

Emma glanced down the hallway outside the door, then stepped inside the room. 

“I told him his father was a heroic firefighter who died trying to save a family. He wasn't. Neal's father was an addict who was into some pretty dark stuff. He got caught in the cross-fire. He died and his dad went to jail. So, yeah. I did lie.”

Perhaps it was because she was inwardly celebrating one less person who might show up one day and start making demands, that she felt the need to be generous. “You don't know all the circumstances, Ms. Swan. Maybe he did save someone.” And as for the lie—as far as she was concerned, telling Henry something positive about his deceased father was a no-harm-no-foul situation.

Emma nodded, looking at least a little bit relieved. Regina wondered if it had bothered her, keeping that as a secret. But she was getting off track.

She pressed buttons on the washing machine to start the cycle, putting off as long as possible asking the thing she actually wanted to know.

“Did you love him?”

Emma looked a little taken aback. “Who? Neal? Before he sent me to jail? Yeah, I did. After? Not so much.”

“If he hadn't sent you to jail, would you have stayed together? Raised the child?” She had a hard time even thinking about the possibility that Henry would not have come into her life, but she wanted to know.

Emma shook her head. She looked suspicious, and slightly confused. “I don't know. Like I said. He had problems. We both did. Who knows how it would have worked out? Love isn't everything.”

“Yes.” Regina nodded. “I know.” She straightened her shoulders. Looking back at the machine for confirmation it was still running, idly making piles of the rest of the laundry, just because it was something to do. Emma was blocking the doorway and she didn't trust herself to walk past her without either lashing out or wanting the contact to last.

She put on a bright, no-nonsense tone. “I suppose, now that you're more...settled, you'll be looking through the pool of Storybrooke's eligible bachelors. I warn you. It's limited.”

“Thanks for the tip. But, uh, my dating pool is a little bigger than that.”

“What?”

“I'm bisexual.”

“Really?” She wasn't so much surprised by her revelation, but by the fact that the possibility of shared feelings was suddenly more plausible.

“Yeah.” Emma narrowed her eyes. “Is that a problem?” It was a challenge, not a question.

“Of course not.” She was offended Emma would think otherwise.

Emma shrugged. “I don't know. It's a small town. You know?” The look she gave Regina made it seem like she was trying to ask a question.

“Do I?” she responded coyly. Now that she'd gotten what she wanted, she wasn't sure she wanted to lay her cards on the table just yet.

“Well, I assume you probably have some secrets you don't want the whole town knowing.” Emma crossed her arms.

“Like what?”

“Like Graham.”

Regina wasn't expecting that. She hadn't thought about him in a long time. Her last memories of him were troubling. First, he had been agitated, then he wasn't making sense, and then he was gone. Of a brain infection, apparently. They'd had an angry confrontation just before he'd died, which Emma had witnessed. It had been painful and messy, but he hadn't been much of a secret, except from Henry. “We were fucking at Grannies in broad daylight, Ms. Swan. I'm sure the whole town knew.”

“Were you in love with him?”

It wasn't right to speak ill of the dead, but she thought she owed the truth about him at least. “No. I wasn't.” She'd loved having him under her thumb. It made her feel powerful and in control when everything else in her life felt like it had been slipping away. “He was convenient.” 

Which, she supposed, was another reason that she should forget all this Emma nonsense. What was more convenient than the woman living in her house, with whom she shared a son? Although, if she was honest, she knew nothing was in fact convenient about it. Not when things were finally cordial between them, not when there was so much at stake.

Emma was watching her with her new, inscrutable look. Regina straightened her shoulders and brushed past her, calling for Henry that it was time to leave for school.


	3. Chapter 3

That night, Regina had a dream. She was at the Cemetery and caught Emma and Graham breaking into her father's mausoleum. She knew it had happened before and she confronted them like she had a year ago. But this time it was Emma that yelled at her, telling her she felt nothing with her. Regina yelled at Graham then, accusing him of stealing Emma from her, instead of the other way around as she'd done in real life. She woke up feeling uneasy and frustrated that it bothered her.

It was just getting light out, and was much too early for anyone to be up, but she knew she wouldn't go back to sleep. She padded downstairs in her embroidered slippers and her satin pyjamas and was surprised to find Emma sitting at the kitchen table. Regina froze, wanting to disappear before Emma saw her, but Emma suddenly turned towards her and it was too late.

“Morning,” Emma greeted her.

“How come you're up so early?” And what are you doing in the kitchen? she wanted to ask, but didn't. It was not where Emma usually spent her free time, unless Henry was at the table doing homework.

“Just...doing some work.”

Regina squinted. On the table in front of her was the Storybrooke newspaper. She couldn't imagine what sort of Sheriff's work involved that. She hovered in the doorway for a moment and then resigned herself to interaction and went to put on a pot of coffee, until she realized Emma had already made one. Long ago, it seemed. She poured a cup anyway and stood, taking tiny sips at the counter.

“This has been nice,” Emma said, suddenly.

“What has?”

“Being here.”

Regina nodded, not sure where she was going with it.

“But I was thinking, maybe it's time I got my own place.”

Regina took another sip of luke-warm coffee. “I suppose,” she replied, noncommittally. Of course it made logical sense, even though she knew Henry liked having both of his mothers in the same place. Even though she didn't mind—okay, she liked having Emma there. But if Emma didn't want to stay, then of course, she wouldn't beg.

She saw that Emma had the paper open to the classifieds, with a couple of ads circled in red pen. Storybrooke had not, as yet, updated itself to online listings.

Regina tried to absorb the information. She was a little surprised—Emma had given no warning it had come to this. Of course, Regina had been a little preoccupied, and, she just realized, more than a little abrupt. Maybe she had been giving the impression that she thought it was time for Emma to move on.

“You don't have to go, of course,” Regina said, trying to sound nonchalant. “I mean, don't feel you have to...”

“Do you want me to stay?” Emma looked at her then, and for the life of her, Regina couldn't hold eye contact. She looked away. 

“It's your decision, Ms. Swan.”

“But what do you want?”

Regina finally looked at her, crossing her arms. “It doesn't matter to me.”

Emma studied her. “I've told you before, I know when someone's lying to me.”

Regina raised an eyebrow. “As I recall, you've not always been a hundred percent on that.”

“Okay, fine.” She shrugged. “But I know you're lying now. So either you want me here, or you don't and I honestly can't tell which.”

Regina exhaled. “Fine, Ms. Swan, I'll tell you the truth. Henry likes that you're here, and I...” she couldn't bring herself to say it. “I don't hate having you here.”

“There, was that so hard?”

Regina couldn't help feeling that she'd been tricked somehow, even though she'd revealed little. But it occurred to her that, as much as she hated being vulnerable, so did Emma. And thanks to a thorough PI investigation when she'd first got to town, Regina knew how often she'd moved around. It was a well-established pattern in her life, and Regina could only assume it was a coping-mechanism, of sorts. Maybe she wasn't the only one feeling uneasy.

“So, Ms. Swan. If it's that easy—what do you want?”

“I want you to stop calling me Ms. Swan, for one,” Emma said.

Regina could see she was stalling. “Fine—Emma. Do you want to stay here with us, or do you want to leave?”

It was Emma's turn to look away. She hesitated for a moment, fidgeting with the edges of the paper. “I don't want to fuck this up,” she said finally.

“This?” Regina waited.

“You, me. Henry.”

It was the way she said it that made Regina make a decision. “Then, don't,” she said, with meaning. “Don't fuck it up.” She put her hand on her hip. High stakes or not, she felt like in her head, she'd already turned a corner. There was no more second-guessing her feelings.

“What are you talking about?” Emma asked, but she didn't sound that confused.

“What do you want, Emma?” she asked again, changing her posture only slightly, tilting her chin, raising her shoulder. Just the smallest hint of a sultry pout.

Emma swallowed. Licking her lips, glancing at Regina's. The energy in the room had changed.

“I want a lot of things.” Emma sat up in her chair. “Usually I tell myself I won't get them. That I don't deserve them.” She was openly eyeing Regina's body now. Regina's nipples were hard beneath her satin pyjamas. 

“I tell myself hat I'm not good enough,” Emma continued. She sounded vulnerable but looked stronger than Regina had ever seen her. She stood up.

Regina took a step towards her, working her teeth over her own lip. “Good enough for what?”

“To be happy.”

Regina felt something else she'd been wrestling with that year slip away.

“Good is overrated,” Regina said and closed the distance between them in two quick steps. 

Suddenly she was kissing Emma full on the mouth, and Emma was kissing her back. She parted her lips and Emma followed suit, their tongues intermingling. She felt Emma's hands on her back, pulling her closer and was spurred on.

It was familiar and different in an incredibly exciting way. Her fingers explored the curve of Emma's neck. Every bit of her skin seemed to share the intense sensation of the few square inches in contact with Emma. Their kisses deepened. 

Regina felt like she was on some kind of drug. Time had stopped. It could have been minutes or hours later that Henry's voice jolted them out of the moment.

“Mom, Mom!” he called them both from the second floor.

They both jumped back, adjusting themselves so that they were perfectly innocent-looking, if a little flushed, by the time his footsteps pounded down the stairs. 

“I'm leaving for school,” he announced. 

Regina looked at her wrist and remembered she wasn't wearing a watch. “You're up too early. And you haven't eaten breakfast yet”

He shook his head. “It's pancake breakfast day. And I set my alarm. In case you forgot again.”

Occasionally, the year before, when she was driving him back and forth to school to avoid his sneaking off, she had “forgotten” to get him up extra early on those days. Never mind she could make pancakes just as well as Mary Margaret.

She and Emma both hugged him goodbye—separately—and dutifully followed him to the front door. Regina realized she hadn't packed him a lunch yet, and so made sure he had the money for it zipped into his bag.

They both waved to him at the front door. Once he'd disappeared around the corner, Regina shut the door, her heart pounding. She flipped the deadbolt. And on second thought, the chain, and turned back to Emma, who was already staring at her, obviously thinking the same thing. 

They weren't finished.


	4. Chapter 4

All day long, Regina couldn't stop thinking about kissing Emma. They had finally torn themselves apart and gone to their respective jobs—late, but not suspiciously so. Regina had debated suggesting some kind of lunchtime rendezvous, but decided against it. She was feeling like a giddy teenager, but she didn't have to act like one.

Even so, she couldn't seem to concentrate on anything she was supposed to be doing that day. She was just going through the motions, her head stuck in a sort of high-sensation loop where she replayed them kissing, reimagined the feeling of Emma's mouth over and over.

She used to do the same thing a year ago, replaying their interactions, except back then she was feeding off the intensity of her hate. Even the memory of that didn't dampen her desire, and she was practically aching with it by the time she got home.

But the second she got in the door, she heard Henry's happy voice in the kitchen. It jarred her back to reality somewhat. She hung up her coat and walked into the kitchen where he was with Emma, who must have gotten off work early. It was almost a shock to see her in person after fantasizing about her all day. Especially seeing her with Henry, bent together over some comic book or other. They both looked up at her at the same time, and she was struck by all of the tiny similarities she had begun to notice in their faces.

She remembered what Emma had said that morning, about not wanting to fuck it up. The importance of that hit her full force, suddenly. It wasn't just about her and her feelings—starting something like this, breeching this line with the biological mother of her son might not be such a great idea. After all of their animosity they were finally getting along, and they had finally settled into a satisfying co-parenting routine.

And what about Henry? He grinned at her and scrabbled through his backpack to show them both a newly marked spelling sheet with every word on it correct, and she was proud, and worried suddenly, that a big change might bring about a return of his obsession with pretending that they were all fairytale characters trapped in a curse.

So she was maybe more curt with Emma than she'd meant to be, avoiding her eyes more deliberately than was strictly necessary, as she greeted them and began to make their evening meal.

They sat down to dinner. Henry talked excitedly about school and new friends. Regina attempted to listen with more zeal than she felt. Emma seemed withdrawn too, focused on Henry. Regina tried not to take notice, but she couldn't help seeing that Emma was merely pushing food around her plate.

Gone were the days when Henry wasn't paying attention. “Mom,” he said, looking at Regina. “Emma isn't eating her dinner.”

Emma scowled. “Hey, kid, eyes on your own plate.” She shoved a forkful of food into her mouth as though to make a statement, but she chewed it like it was painful.

“Alright, Henry, if you're finished, clear your plate and go get your homework.” Regina gave him a reassuring 'I'll handle this' smile.

She marvelled at how quickly he obeyed her now as he ran up the stairs without question. As soon as he was out of earshot, she opened her mouth, ready to say something to Emma, but Emma spoke first.

“Are you okay?” she asked.

Regina frowned. “Me? I'm not the one with a half-finished meal in front of me.” In fact she had mostly lost her appetite, but had eaten anyways both because she knew Emma found it difficult, and because Henry was now hyper-vigilante about that sort of thing and had taken to policing them both.

“Well, just give it to me straight then,” Emma said. “What we did freaked you out and now you can't even look at me.”

Regina supposed she had given that impression. “It's not that,” she said truthfully. “It's just...” She darted a glance in the direction of Henry's room in case he was on his way back.

“Henry,” Emma finished for her, looking slightly relieved. “Yeah, I know. I told you I was worried.” She shrugged. “But do you really think he'd be upset if he found out we hooked up?”

Regina opened and closed her mouth. She honestly didn't know. They'd only kissed so far, but she had definitely been fantasizing of more. She was thinking about it now, unbidden. Now that they were alone, the awkwardness seemed to have disappeared. The threat of messing everything up was suddenly taking a back seat.

She realized she must have some kind of blush on her face as she felt it heat. She took her plate to the sink, just as she heard Henry's approaching footsteps. She began washing dishes as if nothing was wrong, hearing Henry settle himself at the table and cutlery scraping as Emma finished her meal. 

When Emma eventually brought her an empty plate, they shared just the briefest hint of eye contact as they switched places so Emma could wash up. But the heat in her eyes was apparent, and Regina couldn't help another replay of their morning in her head.

She barely got through the paperwork she had to do, alongside Henry quietly doing his homework at the kitchen table, trying not to glance at Emma finishing the dishes. Her inner conflict simmered as Henry victoriously finished his chore and ran upstairs to play video games with Emma. She got a bit more work done and realized it was time for Henry to get ready for bed.

When she reached his room, she found him already tucked in, reading aloud to Emma. He was on book five of the boy wizard series, and seemed to enjoy it, without insisting that the people he knew were actually characters from it. Her eyes glazed over at the details, but Emma enjoyed it and had managed to keep her apprised of the main points.

She watched them for a moment before Emma caught her eye standing in the doorway. Regina kissed Henry goodnight and left them alone as she went to her room to pick out her own outfit for the next day. 

She was still feeling uneasy about the situation. She remembered her old jealousy, her distrust of Emma, and while it had been ebbing since they'd lived in close quarters, she wasn't sure that it had completely gone away. A small part of her of her still wondered if she was being naive letting Emma so close to both of them. If she was a fool for letting herself be vulnerable.

She turned around and saw Emma standing outside her door.

“Henry's in bed,” Emma said, like Regina hadn't just seen him there. She hovered awkwardly for a moment, and then stepped inside and shut the door.

Regina nodded in acknowledgement. Now that they were alone together, now would be the time to either continue as they had been or put an end to it. But she just stood there, trying to read between the lines of the hesitation on Emma's face.

Emma took two steps towards her, then stopped. “So? What should we do?” she asked.

Regina swallowed. She knew what she wanted to do. Maybe it wasn't the best choice, but it was hers. And now a picture was forming, but the words wouldn't come.

All she could manage was a command. “Come here,” she said.

Emma reached her and before she could say anything else, they were kissing again. In a couple of steps, her back was up against the wall, and she was surprised and aroused as Emma's body brushed hers. She pulled Emma to her, her hands pressed to neck and back, distracted by the movements of their mouths. The thrill of taking each other in that way electrified her to her core.

Their kisses reached a fever pitch, and Regina's hands began to explore down Emma's back to her waist, to pull her closer, to touch every last every inch of her. 

Suddenly Emma flinched away. She stepped back and took hold of Regina's wrists and held them from her body, her head down. All of a sudden, she looked uncomfortable.

“What is it?” Regina asked, wondering if she had done something wrong.

“Uh. It's just been a while...” Emma said, biting her lip, and then glancing at Regina's mouth like she was holding herself back. But she was still holding Regina's wrists. “I haven't, uh, done anything with anyone, since treatment, and everything. And I want to—it's just, with meds and everything, it feels different now.”

“What does?”

“My body.” Emma looked sheepish. “I'm not sure what I'm okay with, and how it's gonna work.”

“Oh.” Regina wasn't exactly sure what she meant, but it made sense that what Emma had been through would effect her. 

Regina hesitated, her body still feeling partially alight, begging her to go on. She had never done this much _considering_ at the beginning of an encounter before, but then, every relationship she'd ever had had blown up in her face.

“Well, if I do something you don't like, then tell me to stop and I'll stop,” Regina reasoned..

“Really?” 

She couldn't tell if Emma was surprised because the solution was so simple, or if she didn't actually believe Regina would listen to her. “Yes, really.” Regina swallowed. “I'm still...feeling things out myself.”

“What do you mean?”

“I've—” Oh god, was she really going to admit this? “I've never been with a woman before.”

“Really?”

“Don't act so surprised, Ms.Sw—I mean, Emma.” She scowled. “You were right. Storybrooke isn't exactly a haven for...alternative, uh—” She wasn't entirely sure how to say it. She'd never actually _spoken_ about any of this before.

But Emma seemed to know what she meant. “I don't know—I could've sworn I saw Ruby giving you the eye at some point.” She had a naughty look on her face.

“I'm sure it was more hatred than lust.” Regina knew she wasn't exactly beloved by the town, but that didn't mean Emma's words hadn't given her a certain thrill.

“I doubt it.” Emma was biting her lip again. She let go of Regina's hands and slipped an arm around her waist and came in for a kiss, but veered away and kissed her neck instead. Regina paused, her nerve endings seemingly all at attention. Her hands stilled midair, momentarily unsure of where to put them. She settled on Emma's neck and she didn't object. 

She felt Emma's kisses turn to nibbles and dug her nails in just a little to the nape of Emma's neck. She enjoyed the way she could tangle her fingers in Emma's hair. She had very nice hair.

It was Emma who pulled them over towards the bed until Regina felt the mattress against the sides of her knees. Emma lay down sideways and she followed. Regina wanted to push her onto her back and climb on top, but she had no idea what to do from there. Her urge to take the lead was held in check by her inexperience. She'd imagined the scenario plenty of times, with plenty of women, but suspected that reality—and especially reality with Emma—would be different. So she took her time as they lay on their sides, kissing again, her hands still at Emma's neck and shoulders, as Emma's hands moved downward. 

Regina felt like her skin was on fire with sensation as Emma cupped her breasts. Even though there was the fabric of her blouse and bra in the way, just the pressure was enough to send electricity through her. It intensified and focussed as Emma's hand slid down over her hip and up between her thighs, under her skirt. She was glad she had earlier removed her pantyhose.

She was finding it hard to concentrate on what else was happening while Emma's hand roved, quickly, efficiently, over her. Indeed, she almost bit Emma's tongue when her fingers touched her beneath her underwear and found her clit.

And she nearly gasped as Emma explored her, skin slipping on skin, and she realized how wet she was. Usually she relied on lube to get her going, but as Emma's fingers worked, she knew there was no need.

She felt like her every nerve ending was suddenly between her legs. And it was all she could do not to lie there, enveloped in the pleasure. For a moment, she almost thought the tide might turn and she would come, but the feeling passed and the sensation was too much. She caught Emma's hand, breathing heavy. “Okay that's enough.” 

“Did you come?”

She shook her head and kissed Emma hard, clasping her hand, pulling it between them. She could smell herself on Emma and it flared her arousal, even though she was now too sensitive to touch.

“I want to touch you,” she said to Emma in between kisses. “Show me how.” She thought Emma might hesitate, or tell her never mind, but she brought Regina's hand down and quickly undid her pants. Cupping Regina's hand in hers, she slid them both down inside her underwear, over short hair and onto folds of soft skin. 

Her sharp inhale made Regina's breath catch as she slipped both their fingers into herself and back out, against her clit. It was almost a shock how wet she was. Hard and fast strokes that, even along for the ride, Regina could hardly keep up. It seemed only a few minutes later Emma moaned and doubled over.

Regina could feel muscles contract and pulse around her fingers until Emma finally released her hand.

“Was that an orgasm?” She'd never felt one from the inside like that.

“Yeah.” Emma breathe came faster. “What, you've never had one?”

“Not that quickly,” she admitted. It was all different from herself. And it was indeed a powerful feeling to have made Emma come, even though she'd had...guidance. There was something dismantling about the moment, lying there, face to face, so close. Her fingers were still wet, and her own clit was still feeling the ghost of the pressure of Emma's fingers. 

“I don't come—with other people,” she said. She knew some might find it strange, but it was just a fact. Something that had once frustrated her was simply a boundary her body had set long ago. That moment of vulnerability was now reserved for her alone, and she was fine with it.

“Oh,” Emma said. “Well, if you want to, I'm happy to try again.”

Regina squinted at her. “You're not tired?” she asked, even though coming was not her endgame.

“No, are you?”

“No.” She assumed it was another caveat of sleeping only with men, or at least the particular men she'd slept with, who had all seemed to have a post-coital off-switch. Not that she'd minded. It gave her th opportunity to take matters into her own hands, if she felt like it, no questions asked.

“Or you could show me how you do it.” Emma smiled flirtatiously at her.

“I use toys,” she said. At this point she had a fair collection, but she'd never even shown them to anyone else, and certainly not with her using them. “And it still takes me longer than you,” she added. “Much longer.” It hadn't ever occurred to her that it was anything out of the ordinary. She had certainly never compared times with any of the women in Storybrooke.

Emma shrugged. “My meds have been slowing me down. But I spent my teen years in a group home. One bathroom and a bunch of nosy girls. You got off fast or you didn't get off.”

“Well, then,” As unappealing as those circumstances sounded, at least she could appreciate the fruits of it. She pushed Emma onto her back and straddled her, grinning unabashedly. “Let's see if I've learned anything.”


	5. Chapter 5

The next day, Regina felt like she'd run a marathon. They almost had, she supposed, and then they'd drifted off and woken up just before sunrise, just before she knew Henry would start to rouse, and Emma had snuck back to her room. 

Regina's misgivings and worries from the day before were all but gone now, vanished in the afterglow of their night together. In the kitchen, she was all smiles. It was all she could do not to pin Emma down the moment she saw her and fuck her against the fridge. Her mind downgraded that to a kiss and finally to the bright 'good morning' that she actually let out in Henry's presence as Emma shuffled to the table in a hoody and baggy track pants. Regina was still worried she'd overdone it, but Henry didn't seem to notice anything different between the two of them. 

She had a meeting she was seriously considering blowing off in order to stay home and see what else they might explore, but she was trying her best to be a little more agreeable to the townspeople and she'd put off the damn meeting three times already. So she left Henry in Emma's care to get to school—which they'd admitted usually consisted of him missing the bus and Emma driving him—and didn't admonish either of them of the time.

She waited all day, and then, all evening. This time there was no awkwardness between them when she got home. This time, it wasn't a mistake waiting to blow up but an enticing secret that was too good to share.

That night, after Henry had finished his nightly reading, Emma appeared at Regina's bedroom door already dressed for bed in a sweat shirt and loose pyjama bottoms. Regina had upped the ante to a silky bathrobe and nothing else. Emma agreed it was a good choice as she came in and shut the door.

There were no tentative negotiations tonight. They were kissing until Regina pulled them to the bed and sat down. Emma followed, straddling her, albeit not putting any weight on her, kissing her, all of their fingers wandering. Regina's skin tingled as Emma traced the exposed space between her breasts where the robe closed.

“I want to go down on you,” Emma whispered as her fingers whispered beneath the satin and brushed over Regina's nipple.

Regina enthusiastically agreed. She was not new to the experience, and had found no fault with the abilities of past lovers, but she felt her brain electrify at the mere thought of it as she twined her fingers in Emma's hair and lay back as she kissed her way downwards. 

She wasn't disappointed with the reality. Every time she glanced down past her breasts and saw Emma moving between her thighs, she felt another wave of intensity. Hot breath and a multitude of different pressures and she was riding the edge for longer than she thought possible before her body eventually pulled back. 

They had another nearly-all-night session. This time, she was still swollen with want by the time they lay quiet beside each other and Emma seemed to have drifted off to sleep. She got up and softly padded to the _en suite_ bathroom. Under the counter, there was a locked drawer where she kept her toys.

She locked the door. She might not even need the assistance, but she grabbed the quietest one and pressed it to herself, exploring her wetness.

There was a knock at the door. She inhaled, jumped a little, but the toy was already on and working and she had no intention of not taking this all the way.

“You're breaking my concentration.” she murmured, steadying herself against the bathroom counter. She was nearly there.

“You've given up on me?” Emma's saucy reply came through the door. She sounded like she was pressed close to it, on the other side. Regina imagined her in the sweater she'd fallen asleep in and nothing else. Maybe she was touching herself. Regina's eyelids fluttered in the sudden hit of sensation.

“Not quite,” she replied, eyeing the door, knowing the second she opened it, they'd be back at each other and she wouldn't get what she'd come in here for.

She leaned her back against the door instead and shut her eyes, calling over her shoulder breathlessly. “It feels so good. I'm so wet,” she teased, moving her hips against the door so Emma knew where she was. “I'm thinking about you...”

“Oh, really?” She could tell by her tone that Emma liked the idea. “What am I doing?”

“It's what I'm doing that matters.” Regina thought she heard a gasp through the door and something rubbing against it. Meanwhile, she was making circles on her clit. “I've got a toy between your legs,” she said.

“Yeah?”

“And I only give it to you a bit at a time.”

“Uh huh.” Emma sounded distracted, like she was filling in the blanks in her own head. 

“My other hand...is...” Regina trailed off, lost in her own pleasure. Her head was singing. She wished she could lie down and finish this properly, but she didn't want to leave her place against the door, hearing Emma's voice so close. 

“Your finger slips into my mouth, and out...” Emma continued for her, “And then down to my tits, and you're playing with my nipples.”

Regina groaned. The fantasy was good, but she was losing focus. She was tempted to give up and go fuck Emma in person.

“Oh,” Emma was moaning, just softly. “Yeah, like that,” she whispered. Regina could just hear her through the door. She turned back to herself, and closed her eyes, listening to Emma's heavy breaths and imagined her in the bathroom, her hand on the handle of the vibrator, moving it just the way Regina liked.

Her body erupted in orgasm and she rode it all the way.


	6. Chapter 6

The next night was much the same, and the next night and the next. Every encounter was better than the last, as they explored and became more in tune with each other's bodies. Regina had, a couple of times so far, tried to coax herself to climax in Emma's presence, but each time she'd been distracted and had finished Emma off instead. She had no regrets. Her time would come, eventually, but she was still enjoying every moment.

Eager to make use of all of their available time, their nightly visitations began almost immediately after Henry had gone to bed.

Regina should have known that wasn't the smartest idea.

They were giggling about something. Emma was straddling Regina on the bed—though they were both still clothed, thank god—when Henry opened the door and walked in on them.

“Mom?” He asked, eyes blinking in the light. Regina sat up quickly—fortunately her robe was still in place—and Emma jumped sideways into an awkward lounging position.

“Hey, kid.” Somehow Emma's voice was perfectly normal. “What'd you want?”

“What are you doing?” he asked, suspiciously. Regina's head was spinning.

Emma shrugged like it was no big deal. “It's a sleepover.”

“Oh.” Henry appeared skeptical. “I didn't know grownups had those.”

“Well, we do,” Regina chimed in, swinging her legs off the side of the bed as though she was getting up anyways.

“Even if they live in the same house?” Henry asked.

“_Especially_ if they live in the same house,” Emma said with a straight face. “Now what'd you want?”

“I can't find my day planner.”

Regina frowned. “Why does that matter now? And anyway, it's on the kitchen table. You can get it tomorrow, I'll remind you,” she said, her frustration masking her unease.

“Great. Thanks, mom.” He turned to leave and then turned back. Regina's heart beat a touch faster, wondering if he had just figured something out. She was trying to remember what that year's curriculum had included in the way of sex ed, and if Storybrooke Primary's was comprehensive enough to include what they were doing. 

“What do you do at a sleepover? _I've_ never been.” he said accusingly.

“Not til you're older,” Regina said automatically. “Then you'll figure it out. Now go back to bed.”

“Okay,” he said, and left them alone.

Emma fell back onto the bed then crawled up to lay by her side, close, but not touching. Regina supposed they were both worried he might come back. Perhaps she was going to have to get a lock on her door. Or at least instigate a knocking policy.

Regina broke the silence. “Well, _that_ was horrible.” 

“It could have been worse.”

“It could have been a lot worse.” She could only imagine him walking in on Emma going down on her or something like that. The thought made her feel a little ill.

“We should tell him.”

Regina narrowed her eyes. “Are you serious? If I recall, you made a fairly large deal about me and Graham having sex while Henry was even in the house.” Never mind that he had been asleep and Graham had left through her bedroom window--though apparently, straight into Emma. Graham had told her about the confrontation and specifically that Emma had used the word 'disgusting'.

Emma shrugged. “Yeah, well, that was last year. I didn't know a lot about being a live-in parent then.” She paused. “And I was jealous.”

Regina raised an eyebrow. “Of me, or of Graham?” She'd assumed the former all along, but the latter, she now realized had been a possibility.

“Both.”

She took a moment to enjoy the idea before getting back to the issue. “So what are you proposing? That we tell our eleven-year-old his moms are...?” As she imagined telling Henry, she couldn't even say it.

“Fucking?” Emma finished for her. “I don't know. Don't most kids by that age kinda know their moms are fucking?”

“Not each other.” Regina crossed her arms.

“Is that what you're worried about?”

“Yes, M—Emma. I am. I haven't told him. I was already the Evil Queen. I didn't want to add lesbian into the mix.” She realized she had never said it out loud before. 

“What's wrong with being a lesbian?”

“Nothing,” she replied haughtily. She knew that. But it didn't stop her feelings of unease. For her whole strict childhood into her traumatic young adulthood, her mother had held it as something pathetic and unnatural and it was hard to shake it off.

And then there was Henry. “I just don't know what he thinks about...that,” she admitted. She hadn't exactly been proactive in talking about sexuality with him, fearing questions she didn't want to answer, and Storybrooke was a small town. Who knew what he'd picked up? Although, for all of her complaints against his teacher Mary Margaret, intolerance had never been one of them.

“Then tell him,” Emma said. “Just say, 'Henry, no one likes a homophobe.'”

Regina cracked a smile despite herself and then sobered. “I wish I could joke about this, but for me, this is serious.”

Emma straightened up, her casual attitude dropping. “It's serious for me too. I mean, I'm not crazy about having the conversation, when we've just started—” She shrugged. “But if he finds out and thinks we've been lying to him...? I mean, I have just as much to lose as you do.”

“How do you figure that? For the last year, you've been his hero.” The _Savior_ who was supposed to save and the entire town from her.

“Yeah, but he knows that's not true anymore. I keep thinking one day he's just gonna decide that he doesn't want me around if i'm not special.”

Sometimes it struck Regina how much more uncertain Emma was about her relationship with Henry than she appeared. It had seemed to Regina that almost the moment she'd arrived in town she had decided she had earned a place in his life.

“I don't think he would do that,” Regina said, even though at this time last year she had hoped for precisely that.

“He turned on you and you raised him.”

“Yes, but”—this was hard to admit. Especially to Emma—“we'd been having some tough times. I've never really been very good at relating to him.”

“And I feel like I can relate to him, but everything else—” Emma shrugged helplessly. “I don't know, my instincts are sometimes really off. But I just don't think he'll have a problem with it, and I don't want to lie to him.”

“We're not lying,” Regina reasoned, propping her head on her hand. “We're just not telling the whole story. Besides, we don't even know if this...if it's going to work out,” she finished awkwardly.

Emma raised an eyebrow. “We live together, we share a son, and we're fucking on the regular. I don't know what you're used to, but this is the most working thing I've ever been a part of.”

Regina smirked, impressed by Emma's candor. Truth be told, even _counting_ their initial hatred of each other, this was the most successful relationship she'd ever been a part of.

“Fine,” she said. “Then we'll sit him down and tell him.” Her stomach was already in knots, hoping this wouldn't somehow make her a villain again in his eyes.


	7. Chapter 7

By the next morning, Regina was already rethinking their decision. She entered the kitchen and found Henry, dressed for school, eating breakfast with Emma at the table. Her heart was pounding as soon as she saw them together, wondering if Emma had decided to jump the gun and already told. But Henry said 'good morning' like he usually did, in between slurps of cereal, and there weren't any 'how could you keep this from me?' vibes, and she realized she still had time. 

Trying to be surreptitious, she hovered at the counter and texted Emma and saw her out of the corner of her eye receive the message as she played a game on her phone. _Meet me in the living room_, it said. Emma looked up at her with a questioning look. Regina darted her eyes to Henry and away, with meaning. Emma frowned. Regina texted again, _I changed my mind. Don't tell him. It's too soon, he's too young_, in consecutive messages. She was trying to come up with another reason when Emma put her phone down. 

“Hey kid,” she said across the table. “Do you know what bisexual means?” she asked without flinching.

“Yeah. It means you like boys and girls,” Henry said.

“And maybe other people,” Emma added. 

“Other people?”

“Yeah. People who aren't a boy or a girl, and they decide who they are.”

“Oh,” he said. “Okay.”

Regina was impressed. She wasn't expecting the matter-of-fact acceptance. Perhaps Mary Margaret and his other teachers had been doing something right.

“I'm bisexual,” Henry said, so abruptly that Regina started. Even Emma looked momentarily startled. “At school, I usually hang out with August,” he went on. “But we let Drizella play marbles with us sometimes,” he said.

Regina glanced at Emma. Was she going to correct him? Regina herself had no idea what to say. Maybe she could get a book or something to explain it better—

“Oh, well, it's more than just friends,” Emma went on, remarkably unfazed. “It's like, when you like-like someone. Like a crush.”

“Oh.” He shoved another bite of cereal in to his mouth. “I guess I'm not then.” He looked up at her. “Are you?”

Emma threw just the tiniest bit of eye contact Regina's way. “Uh, yeah, I am.”

Henry must have noticed something. He turned around and looked at her. “Are you too?”

The question startled her. There was her in. Emma was watching her too. “No, Henry, I'm not.” she took a breath, her arms crossed in front of her. “I'm attracted to women,” she said.

He kept looking at her, as though recalculating something in his head. She was practically holding her breath waiting to see how he'd react. 

“And other people too?” he asked.

“Uh, I don't know,” she said truthfully. She hadn't as yet met anyone who didn't identify as a man or woman. She was just glad Henry didn't seem upset.

“What about Miss Blanchard's dad?” he asked.

If she could go to her grave with him not knowing the true circumstances of that marriage, she would. She glanced at Emma. The panic must have shown on her face. 

“It's complicated.” Emma said for her. 

Regina braced herself for more questions along that line, but Henry was now looking back and forth between them. “If you both like-like women, then do you like each other?”

“Uh, that's not usually how it works,” Emma said. “But in this case—”

“Yes,” Regina finished for her. “We do.” She stepped over and took Emma's hand. It seemed cheesy and at the same time, almost too intimate to have an audience.

They stood there, as though waiting for his approval. It seemed like forever, but must have only been a few seconds as he stared at them with a blank expression.

“Oh. Okay.” He grabbed his bag and jumped off his chair. “I'm almost late for school.”

Regina checked her watch and realized he was right as he brushed past her and to the front door.

“What was that?” Regina exclaimed as she heard the door slam shut behind him. “He barely seemed to acknowledge it.”

“I don't know. Maybe he didn't understand. Maybe he's mad. Maybe he's happy. Maybe he's excited to get to school.” Emma shrugged. “The kid's an enigma.”

Regina gave her a reproachful look. “After all that, and we still have no idea what he thinks about it.”

“I'm still glad we told him. Are you?”

“I don't know.” She sighed, but she didn't let go of Emma's hand.

Later that night, while putting Henry's laundry on his bed, and taking stock of his latest attempt at “cleaning” his room, she saw a sheaf of papers sitting on his desk. On the front page in big bold letters were the words, _Once Upon a Time..._

Regina's heart sank. And everything had seemed to be going so well. She had been hoping so hard that they finally had a life together that he didn't want to escape from. She flipped open the pages, but the writing was too mess, too densely packed for her to read. Maybe she should take photos and try to decode it later, just in case.

But as she rifled the pages, she saw the very last page. It was a drawing. A pretty decent one, too. It looked like her and Emma holding hands, and him in between them, all smiling. And underneath them was the caption.

_Not the end, but the beginning.._

She smiled and put it down, feeling as close as she ever had to a happily ever after.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading! :)


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